Tales of Future Not Quite Past
by YoruameBaroness
Summary: A young Chinese girl, who happens to be a descendant of Mulan, is living in America during the Second World War. Somehow, she gets teleported back to Mulan's time period and country. How will the two young ladies fare? Chapter Two is up!
1. Default Chapter

Tales of Future Not Quite Past

By SenritsuBaroness

Author's Note: Italics are thoughts; and ~* indicates shift from one person to another. ^_^

Chapter One: A Flashback from the Past

Song-Mei Long clasped her hand to her breast as she watched the airplanes fly overhead. She knew what type of airplane they were; they were U.S. Navy Grumman F-6F Hellcats. 

It was June 6, 1944. D-day. "This is D-day, this is _the_ day," the announcement had come over the radio.

"I am sick of this war," Song-Mei said to herself. Ever since war had broke out, she could no longer enjoy the things she used to. She couldn't enjoy chocolate, or sugar, or meat, or cheese. She could no longer ride her bicycle with the ease she used to for fear of Zeros flying overhead. She was also tired of being mistaken for a Japanese person. _I'm Chinese, for crying out loud, _she thought. 

This was the kind of talk she had endured for three years. Invasion and nothing but invasion, bombs, Jews, Germans, Nazis, Hitler, Mussolini, Italians, concentration camps, those "damned Japs", war effort, Womens' Army Corps, ration books, coupons, government cheese, etc., etc. It all got sickening after awhile; she couldn't even focus on her studies without war talk.

"I hate this stupid war," she grumbled to herself as she continued to pedal hard on her bicycle. "Wars are created by something ignorant in the human heart. Why kill and butcher and maim over five piddly acres of land?"

But in her heart, she knew this World War was over more than just five piddly acres of land. The happiness – and lives – of millions of European and Asian people hung in the balance of this war. If Hitler could conquer Great Britain, then he would emerge unstoppable in Fortress Europe. Song-Mei shuddered at the thought. _Those poor Jews._ She knew that even though she had to endure such trying times, it was all for a reason.

"It's all for a reason," she reminded herself as she stopped at a stop sign. "Just think if I were in Nazi Germany. . ."

She tried to picture herself looking like a European person. She tried to picture her long, black hair as blonde, and her ebony, almond- shaped eyes as circular and sky blue. She blinked in shock. _I'd make a pretty European girl, but I'm much prettier as a Chinese maiden!_

She continued pedaling towards home. School had let out for the summer session, and she'd sneaked off campus to come home. Stealth was her forte. She tugged angrily at the dark blue collar of the summer uniform, which consisted of a white shirt with a dark blue collar that formed into a tie, with three white stripes on it. The skirt was dark blue, too, and she wore her loose white ankle socks and her black patent leather shoes. _I look like a sailor in the Navy,_ she thought as she narrowed her eyes. The back of the collar flapped behind her like a flag as she pedaled across the street. Her hair, which was swept up into two buns on either side of her head, with some "ponytails" of hair swirling from the buns, was reminiscent of Sailor Moon's hairstyle, and flew out behind her like a raven-colored cape.

"Mummy, I'm home!" Song-Mei called out cheerfully as she rushed into the house.

Ms. Long turned from her position hunched over at the stove to look at her daughter. "You sneaked off campus again, didn't you?" her mother scolded. "I told you before not to do that, you could get into trouble with the administration, and then you'd get kicked out of school. I don't want you to be a delinquent or a housewife; I want you to make something of yourself . . ."

Song-Mei rolled her eyes. "Yes, Mother. I won't be a delinquent. I promise." _Maybe I can lie about my age and go enlist in the WAACS,_ she thought. She smiled.

"Your father is still at work," Ms. Long said as she went back to stirring the mysterious food she was cooking. Song-Mei tried to peer over her mother's shoulder and see what it was, when suddenly she found herself standing outside the kitchen door.

"I'll call you for dinner!" Ms. Long's shrill voice called out.

Song-Mei sighed and slumped against the door, her ebony ponytails cascading over her shoulders. _Why did I even bother to come home in the first place? _She wondered.

With nothing else to do, Song-Mei decided to go visit Chinatown. San Francisco wasn't too far from Chinatown, and she could ride her bike there and have a nice sit in the Chinese Tea Garden, and then ride back before it got dark.

"Mother, I'm going to go to Chinatown. Do you want me to pick us up some of those imported eggrolls?" Song-Mei called.

"You don't have any money!" her mother retorted.

Song-Mei rolled her eyes. _I have money,_ she thought. _Ever hear of a "part-time job"?_ "Fine. I'll be back shortly." She rushed out the door and over to her bicycle.

About twenty minutes later, Song-Mei was strolling happily through the lush greenery of the Chinese Tea Garden. She walked up the high bridge over the river and looked down at her reflection. 

Her large, almond-shaped eyes gazed happily back up at her. Her hair, which she'd bothered to tidy up before she left the house, looked like dark silk flowing onto her shoulders. Her skin was a pale ivory, contrasting with the dark ebony of her hair. Her earrings were pretty gold circular orbs, which shone with the light.

"Waaaaaagggghhhh!" She felt herself teeter forward, then backward, and . . .

SPLASH!!

Song-Mei opened her eyes and there was water all around. She inhaled sharply and only succeeded in filling her nostrils with water. She flailed and flailed in the direction she thought was up, as a great burning sensation filled her chest. Her lungs were literally screaming at her. _Air! Air! I need air! Give me what I need!_

She could feel the darkness coming to consume her, and she shook her head rapidly to keep from losing consciousness. _If I go unconscious, then I die, _she kept reminding herself. Her entire chest felt as though it were on fire.

She finally broke the surface and took a deep breath, her chest heaving up and down with unnatural, more full breaths than usual. _I can't believe I almost died, _she thought, as she clasped a hand to her breast.

She narrowed her eyes as she noticed something was _way_ different than it had been beforehand. . .

"It's nighttime," Song-Mei muttered to herself as she bobbed in the water. "It was only a quarter to three o'clock when I left the house. I couldn't have been gone that long." Silently she wondered, _Just what is going on?_

~*

"Hey, no, I don't think this is a good idea, what if someone sees you?" Mushu blurted to Mulan as she undressed.

"Just because I look like a man doesn't mean I have to smell like one," Mulan retorted. "Besides, everyone's asleep."

"So a couple of guys don't rinse out their socks. Picky, picky, picky! Well, I kinda like that corn-chip smell . . ." Mushu's rantings were interrupted by the tiny splash Mulan made as she leapt into the river.

"Ahhhh," Mulan sighed.

"Okay, now get out before you get all pruny," Mushu ordered, holding out a towel.

"Mushu," Mulan said, "if you're so worried, go stand watch."

Mulan turned to see a figure floating towards the nearby tree. _Oh, no! _she thought. _What if they saw me?_

A moment later she noticed the rather long amount of hair trailing behind the figure. _That person's hair is too long to be a man. What is a woman doing here? _Mulan decided to wait and see just who – and what gender – the person was.

~*

Song-Mei climbed out of the water and wrapped her arms around the tree. "Ohhh, my uniform is _ruined_! The admin's gonna _kill_ me, this is the third uniform I've ruined this month! WHY did the uniforms have to be dry-clean only?!" She hung her head in remorse.

~*

Mulan's mouth dropped open in shock. A girl! The girl looked to be close to Mulan's age, with long hair swept up into two buns with ponytails swinging down from the buns. _I do like her hairstyle, _Mulan thought. _Maybe when my hair grows back I'll wear it like that. _The girl had rather large breasts and very prominent hips; Mulan would have loved to have the girl's figure. The girl was dressed in the most unusual clothing Mulan had ever seen: a white shirt with some sort of weirdly designed blue material at the top, and a weird-looking blue skirt down to her knees. _How scandalous of her to show that much leg! _Mulan thought. The girl also wore rather big, clumsy-looking, shiny black shoes.

~*

_I get the feeling I'm not alone, _Song-Mei thought as she wrung out her tie. She looked up to see someone floating in the water watching her.

_Ooh! Maybe they know what time it is!_

"Hey!" Song-Mei called. "May I ask you what the time is?"

The person stared at her like she had some sort of problem.

_I know they heard me, _Song-Mei thought. _What is with this person?_

~*

Mulan stared at the girl, who had now started making strange noises. _I better help her out before she gets caught, _Mulan thought. Mulan began to make her way over to where the girl was knelt.

~*

Song-Mei noticed that the person was making his/her way over to where she was. She continued wringing out her ponytails.

"Hey, don't you understand me?" Song-Mei asked once the person had gotten close enough.

"Shhhhhh!" Mulan clamped a hand over Song-Mei's mouth. "Hush before you wake up the soldiers!"

Song-Mei nearly did a double-take. The person, who was now clearly a girl close to her own age, had just spoken to her in Chinese. She found herself very grateful that her mother had taught her Chinese. "Did you just immigrate here?" Song-Mei asked in Chinese. "By the way, you're not supposed to swim in the Moon River."

"What are you talking about?" Mulan replied. "I've lived here all my life! And this river has no name!"

"Huh?" Song-Mei was now even more confused. "If you've lived in America all your life, why can't you speak English?"

Mulan looked at Song-Mei quizzically. "America? What's that? What's English?"

Song-Mei laughed. "Oh, you must be joking. It's America, you know, it's 1944, and we're in the middle of a war with the Axis nations, and . . ."

It was Mulan's turn to laugh. "1944 seems so far away! I know I wouldn't live that long. What are the Axis nations? Are we an Axis nation?" She paused. "By the way, this is not America. It's China."

"Erm . . .China?" Song-Mei was beginning to think the girl was slightly crazy.

"Yes. China. And the Huns have invaded China. We're going to war against them." Mulan laughed. 

"Wait a minute. Then that means . . ."Song-Mei began. _It means I'm in the past!_


	2. Flying Towards the Future

Tales of Future Not Quite Past

By SenritsuBaroness

Author's Note: Italics are thoughts, and ~* indicates shift from one person to another.

Chapter Two: Flying Towards the Future

Song-Mei blinked in shock. _I'm in ancient China!_ "Oh, no, how did I get here? I've got to get back to California; why, I've got to go home and eat dinner and get another uniform . . .oh, Mother's gonna murder me!"

She turned to Mulan. "So . . .where is your family?"

Mulan blinked back tears and turned away. "They're . . . at home."

"Well, where is home?" Song-Mei asked. "Up the hill?"

"No, it's far away. I ran away from home to join the army in my father's place. You see, he's too sickly to fight." Mulan sighed, hoping the other girl would understand.

"Ah. I see." Song-Mei tried to sympathize. "Well, in 1944, women can serve in the Army without having to disguise as men." She paused. "Aren't you afraid?"

"Yes, I am afraid. But I'd rather it be me than my father." Mulan said. "By the way, what's your name?"

"I'm Song-Mei! And you are?"

"I'm Mulan. But in disguise I am Ping."

"Oh, I see. Got the split personality thing going on?"

"Huh?" Mulan raised an eyebrow.

"Never mind." Song-Mei looked around. "Look, I've got to get home. I've got studies, and my victory garden to tend to, and my war stamps book is almost full and I can exchange it for another ration book, and . . ."

Mulan laughed. "You talk of such strange things! What is a victory garden? And a war stamps book? And a ration book?"

"Well . . .it's a long story," Song-Mei admitted. "Our time is very different from yours. May I ask you what year it is?"

"It's 610," Mulan replied.

Song-Mei's eyes widened. "6 . . .10?" _Oh, my . . .how will I ever get back to 1944? I could be trapped in the past forever! _

"How did you get here?" Mulan asked.

"Well, I had gone to Chinatown to the Chinese Tea Garden, and I went up over the bridge that's over the Moon River. And I fell into the river and . . .ended up here." Song-Mei sighed.

The girls' chatter was interrupted by voices.

"Oh, no!" Mulan gasped. "It's the Terrible Trio!"

"Huh?" Song-Mei asked, confused.

"Quick! Hide! And be quiet!" Mulan shoved Song-Mei into the tall grass. Song-Mei poked her nose out and looked innocently at Mulan.

~*

_Those three have terrible timing! _Mulan thought as she tried to hide behind a lily pad. Yao, Ling, and Chien-Po had obviously decided that they, too, were going to take a moonlit bath.

Chien-Po jumped in and created a gigantic wave. Mulan pulled the lily pad up higher, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible.

"Hey! Ping!" Yao called out to her.

~*

Song-Mei poked a bit more out of the wispy grass to watch. _Curiosity killed the cat, _her conscience chided her.

_But satisfaction brought him back, _Song-Mei retorted. _And besides, I'm not a cat. _She strained her ears to hear what was going on.

"Oh, hi, guys!" Mulan greeted them in a pseudo-manly voice. "I didn't know you were here!"

The three men gave her funny looks.

"I was just washing, and now I'm clean, so I'm gonna go, bye-bye!" Mulan quickly added, and started to walk away, but the tall, skinny man grabbed her arm. Mulan quickly slapped her other arm over her bust.

_She's gonna get caught! _Song-Mei thought. 

~*

"Wait, Ping. I know we were jerks to you before, so let's . . .start over. Hi, I'm Ling," Ling extended his hand.

Mulan shook his hand and quickly pulled her arm away, only to have the back of her hand slap against warm flesh.

"And I'm Chien-Po," Chien-Po said.

"Hello, Chien-Po," Mulan said in a somewhat strained voice.

The three turned to see Yao standing on a rock. Mulan lowered her eyes and put her hand over her eyebrows, trying to shield her eyes.

"And I am Yao! King of the Rock! And there's nothing you girls can do about it," Yao snapped.

~*

Song-Mei poked more of her face out. A few strands of her ebony hair fell over her shoulder onto her breast. _Gee, those three are kinda idiotic. This army has no hope, _Song-Mei thought. 

~*

"Well, I bet Ping and I could take you on!" Ling challenged Yao, striking a pose.

"I don't wanna take him anywhere," Mulan said, starting to walk away. _I want to get as far away from you as I can, _Mulan thought.

"Oh, come on, Ping. Stay awhile," Ling grabbed her arm again.

CHOMP!

"Ouch! Something bit me!" Ling yelped.

Mulan looked down, and, to her surprise, Mushu popped up.

"Yuck, what a nasty flavor," Mushu made a face.

"SNAKE!!" Ling screamed, and ran away.

Mulan turned and whistled for Khan, her black horse. The beautiful horse came galloping with a green towel on its back. Mulan stepped out of the water and wrapped the towel around herself.

~*

Song-Mei crawled through the grass over to where Mulan was talking to herself. Or so she thought.

~*

"That was close," Mulan sighed, smoothing back her hair.

"No, that was vile," Mushu replied, brushing his teeth. "You owe me BIG!"

"I _never_ want to see a naked man again," Mulan declared, just as most of the army ran past her naked. Her eyes widened.

"Hey, don't look at me, I ain't bitin' no more butts." Mushu grumbled.

"Hey!" A cheerful voice from the grass called. "Who are you talking to?"

Mushu had a frightened look on his face, but Mulan stopped him from panicking. "It's all right, she's a friend," Mulan said. To Song-Mei, she said, "You can come out now."

Song-Mei carefully stepped out of the grass. "Who're you talking to? Your horse?" Song-Mei asked.

"Um, no, actually, I was talking to Mushu," Mulan replied.

"Who's Mushu?" Song-Mei asked.

Mulan pointed down to the tiny dragon next to her.

"What an unusual looking gecko," Song-Mei commented.

"I AM NOT A GECKO!" Mushu bellowed. "I'm a dragon!"

"Geez, did you not have a growth spurt or something? Dragons are supposed to be . . .huge," Song-Mei said, spreading her arms out wide to prove her point.

"And you're not supposed to show that much leg," Mushu retorted.

"Excuse me? This length of skirt is very stylish! And I've got skirts even shorter than this, so I'd watch it, buddy boy!" Song-Mei replied.

"Hey, I don't want you two fighting. Let's start over. Mushu, this is Song-Mei. She says she's from 1944, which is probably why her skirt is so short. Song-Mei, this is Mushu, my guardian." Mulan smiled.

~*

Song-Mei knelt down and shook Mushu's tiny claw. "It's nice to meet you," she said cheerfully.

"We have GOT to get you a longer skirt. That is very inappropriate!" Mushu scolded.

_If they think MY skirt is short, they should see some of the German skirts, _Song-Mei thought. To Mushu she said, "It's the summer uniform at my school."

"Oh, you go to school? What's it like?" Mulan asked.

"It's boring," Song-Mei replied. "We have to wear these ugly uniforms with this stupid crest on it." She tugged on the left sleeve and pointed to the school crest, a heart with angel wings coming out of it. "And on the other sleeve, we have to wear chevrons to indicate what grade we are in." She held out the right sleeve. "I have three chevrons, so I'm a junior."

Mushu and Mulan had confused looks on their faces.

"Look, let's go for a walk. I'll explain everything." Song-Mei smiled.

Song-Mei and Mulan started down the lush green path. Mulan was busy tying her hair up into a topknot, while Song-Mei was adjusting her tie.

"Anyway, I'm seventeen years old. I was born on 24 July, 1927. I live in America, in San Francisco, California. My ancestors immigrated to America from China, so I'm Chinese-American." She paused. "I go to Franklington Girls' Preparatory School, and I live in their student housing there. I play flute for the marching band there."

"What's a flute?" Mulan asked.

"A flute is a musical instrument. It's silver and long and hollow and it has little keys on it that you press to make different sounds," Song-Mei answered.

"Oh," Mulan said.

"Anyway, over in Europe, which is close to China, there is a country called Germany. A few years before I was born, in what is now called the First World War, Germany lost. All the world powers blamed Germany for the war, and forced Germany to pay for it," Song-Mei continued.

"That's impossible," Mulan said. "How can they blame only one country?"

"Well, they did, and the German economy collapsed as a result. When the worldwide depression came . . ." Song-Mei said.

"What's a depression?" Mulan asked.

"A depression is a recession in stock sales. Stock is pretty much stuff you trade to other countries. Anyway, with all the war debts and stuff, the stock market crashed, causing a depression. Millions of people lost all their money, and millions more lost their jobs." Song-Mei sighed. "I was only two years old at the time, and my family's always been very rich, so it didn't really affect us." She paused. "But it affected Germany greatly. The people there were miserable, because before the war, they had been the most powerful European nation. Many of its people longed to become the way they had been before the war. And it was because of this misery and sadness that a fanatical man named Adolf Hitler entered the picture." Song-Mei dug into her skirt pocket and pulled out a small picture book. "This is a book my brother sent me. He's overseas fighting in France." She opened the book to a page with an ugly black-and-white photograph of a man on it. The man had rich chestnut brown hair parted sharply to the left, a short, stiff-looking mustache, and cold eyes. "This is Adolf Hitler."

"Wow, he looks scary," Mulan asked. "What did he do?"

"Well, he became Chancellor of Germany, which is like a leader, sort of. And he demanded that the Reichstag, or government, give him emergency powers. The Reichstag did and then dissolved itself, which left Hitler and Hitler alone in power." Song-Mei took a deep breath. "Now, Hitler really hates a certain group of people called Jews. He blamed the Jews for the first war, and passed a bunch of laws taking away their rights. They couldn't do anything at all."

"That's awful," Mulan said, a glimmer of sadness flashing in her eyes.

"It gets worse," Song-Mei said sadly. "In 1940, he began shipping the Jews to concentration camps, where he forced them to work to their deaths. He also sent them to killing centers, where they were tortured, starved, gassed, and cremated. He mass murdered the Jews; his goal was to exterminate them off the face of the Earth. This type of murder, directed at a certain race, is known as genocide." Song-Mei paused again. "He also set his sights on taking over the world. Italy and Japan were in cohorts with them, and they became known as the Axis powers. Japan took over China and islands in the Pacific, and Italy took over parts of Africa. These three powers were going to divide the world between themselves if they were victorious. Hitler took over almost all the major countries in Europe; one by one they fell to him. He tried to take a country called Poland, but the two democratic powers of Europe, called Great Britain and France, promised to protect Poland. So, when Hitler invaded Poland, Great Britain and France declared war on Germany, which began the Second World War, in 1939."

"So, what does that have to do with your country?" Mulan asked.

"Well, remember earlier I mentioned Japan. We were going to stay neutral and not become involved in this war, but that all changed on 7 December, 1941." Song-Mei squeezed her eyes shut as the memory of the day came back to her mind. She and her parents had been enjoying a Sunday morning dinner when the announcement came over the radio.

"Pearl Harbor is being bombed by Japanese airplanes," the radio had crackled. 

"Anyway, the Japanese came in a machine called an airplane, which flies in the air with a human pilot. And they bombed Pearl Harbor, which is part of America. So, we declared war on Japan. Germany and Italy then declared war on us, and we were dragged into this conflict. It's been three years since we started fighting." Song-Mei hung her head. "Everything goes for the war effort now."

"That must be tough on you," Mulan said.

"It is. But it's all for a reason." Song-Mei smiled.

"You sure are cheerful," Mulan said.

"I try," Song-Mei replied. "Anyway, that's what's happening in my time period."

The girls continued down the path until they reached a clearing. A tent was set up in front of the clearing, and from inside the tent they could hear voices.

~*

"Humph!" Chi Fu snorted. "You think your troops are ready for battle? They would not last a minute against the Huns!"

Shang sighed and tried to muster up some patience for dealing with the old man, when truth was he had used up just about all the patience he had with Chi Fu. In fact, Shang would have liked nothing more than to hit Chi Fu in the face and knock a couple of his teeth out. "They completed their training," Shang said exasperatedly.

"Hmmph! Those BOYS are no more fit to be soldiers than you are to be captain!" Chi Fu snapped. Shang's eyes widened; Chi Fu certainly knew how to hurt others with words.

~*

Song-Mei and Mulan stood outside the tent eavesdropping. Song-Mei cupped her hand to her mouth and whispered to Mulan, "That guy sure is mean."

Mulan whispered back, "Oh, you mean Chi Fu? He's a nuisance to us all."

~*

"Once the captain reads MY report, your troops will never see battle," Chi Fu sneered. Shang narrowed his eyes angrily and grabbed Chi Fu's writing board. "We're not finished!"

Chi Fu pried Shang's fingers away. "Careful, Captain. You may be the General's son, but I am the Emperor's consul. You are dismissed." 

Shang glared angrily at Chi Fu for a moment, then stormed out of the tent.

~*

Mulan suddenly saw Shang storming in their direction out of the corner of her eye.

"Hide!" She shoved Song-Mei into the grass.

"Oomph!" Song-Mei landed on her back.

Shang walked past her, and she attempted to joke. "Hey, how about I hold him, and you punch?" She punched her hand and tried to laugh. "Or not," she said when Shang continued past her.

"For what it's worth," Mulan called after him, "I think you're a great captain!"

Shang stopped and turned to look at Mulan for a moment. Then he turned back around and continued on his way.

~*

Song-Mei poked out of the grass. _I sure seem to end up in grass a lot, _she thought. She'd watched the whole thing between Mulan and the unknown man. _That man was very handsome! I wish some of the guys at the boys' school looked that handsome!_

"Hey, who was that guy?" Song-Mei asked.

Mulan turned to the grass. "Oh, that's Captain Li Shang. He's our commander. He's . . ." she began.

"Handsome, is what he is!" Song-Mei declared. "If only he lived in my time period! He could be my brother's friend, and they could go off to war together, and . . .!"

"Who is your brother? I remember you mentioning him earlier." Mulan asked.

"Hans is his name. I know it's not a Chinese name; Hans is a more Germanic name," Song-Mei replied. "He's an infantryman in the Army." She handed Mulan a tattered photograph of her brother in his service dress uniform.

"Oh, he's very handsome," Mulan said. "I wish I had a brother as handsome as him!"

"He's a pain in the . . ." Song-Mei stopped herself. _Mulan would certainly think badly of me if I were to start cursing in front of her. _

~*

Mulan and Song-Mei sat eating bowls of rice.

"Where's Mushu?" Song-Mei asked, noticing it seemed rather quiet without the wise-cracking dragon.

"I don't know," Mulan answered. _Who knows where he could be, _she thought.

Of course, the girls immediately got their answer moments later when Mushu came scrambling up to them. "Pack your bags! We're going to war!"

~*

Song-Mei spit out her rice. "WHAT?" she blurted. "I can't go to war! I'll be killed and I'll get Mulan killed! I've got to go home!"

"How?" Mulan asked.

"Well, I came here through the water, so maybe if I jump back into the water . . ." She noticed the sad look on Mulan's face. "I'm sorry, I know how hard it must be on you to be the only girl in a male regiment. But I'd only get in the way, and get you killed." Song-Mei pulled Mulan to her in an embrace. "I'm glad . . .I'm glad I managed to get here. And I'm glad . . . I'm glad I got to meet you, Mulan. Now, you go beat those Huns and show 'em who's boss!"

"Thanks, Song-Mei," Mulan smiled. "Hold out in your time period too. Peace will come soon."

Song-Mei knelt down to Mushu. "Nice to meet you, too. You keep your big mouth shut and stay out of trouble," she winked at Mushu.

"And YOU get a longer skirt," Mushu said.

With that, Song-Mei turned and walked down the path to the river.

~*

Mushu looked up and saw the sad look on Mulan's face. "I'm sorry," Mushu offered.

"She understood what I'm going through," Mulan said sadly. "She's a girl who's just like me. But . . .why does she have to live in the future? Why couldn't she stay here . . .with me?"

~*

Song-Mei splashed up. "Am I home?" She looked up and noticed that the sun was shining. "Oh my gosh, who knows how long I was gone!" She looked around and saw the familiar bridge and the tea house. "It's good to know that I'm home."

Song-Mei quickly climbed out of the water, grabbed her bicycle and rode home.

Her mother was seated on the couch crying. Song-Mei started over to her mother, but paused momentarily to glance up at the clock.

_5:15?! I've only been gone for two hours?! That's impossible! It was near dawn when I left Mulan's time period! _Song-Mei blinked in shock and rubbed her eyes. A loud sob from her mother snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Mother, what's wrong?" Song-Mei asked. Her mother continued wiping at her eyes and pointed to a sheet of paper on the table.

Song-Mei picked up the paper and scanned it, until she saw the words "Conscription notice".

"No," she said softly. It had finally happened; what both she and her mother had dreaded.

"They have Hans!" Ms. Long sobbed. "Wasn't that enough?!"

Song-Mei tried to comfort her mother. "It's all right, Mother," she said, offering her handkerchief. Her mother took the handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes. "We've got to contribute even more to the effort now that Daddy's fighting, too. We can plant more vegetables in the victory garden, and I'll buy another war stamps book. I'll come home more often to help around the house. We'll stock up on rations."

Her mother nodded. "I . . .I think I need to be alone." She handed Song-Mei $20. "Why don't you go to a movie?"

"But, Mother . . ."

"I'll be fine. You young people need to try to have some fun in these trying times. Why don't you invite one of your friends?" Ms. Long smiled at her.

Song-Mei sighed and took the money. "All right."

Song-Mei found herself wheeling her bicycle out. Now, she understood fully how Mulan had felt. _But I can't go in my daddy's place._ Song-Mei heaved a sigh. _I'll never forgive the government if I lose both Hans and Daddy to the Germans! _

"Wait a minute . . ." Song-Mei suddenly had an idea. _If I can't help the American war effort, maybe I can help the Chinese war effort. I can go back to ancient China and help! _

Song-Mei's ponytails hitting her ears suddenly jolted her back to reality. _I can't disguise myself as a boy. My breasts are too large and my hair is too long. But . . .what can I do?_ _Is there anything I can do to help at all?_

Song-Mei narrowed her eyes in determination. "I may not can do much in either country," she muttered to herself, "but I just can't let poor Mulan go through that by herself. There's nothing here for me anymore but heartache and bad news; and frankly, I'm tired of hearing about the Germans. I'm going back to China!"


	3. The Present Into The Past

Tales of Future Not Quite Past

By SenritsuBaroness

Author's Note: Italics are thoughts, bold type is flashbacks, and ~* indicates shift from one person to another. ^_^ Also, sorry I haven't updated, but I have no Internet at the present time. L

          Chapter Three: The Present Into The Past 

          Song-Mei went to the movies, just like her mother had told her to do. She went to see one of those wartime cartoons. It was a cartoon which featured a Hitler duck, a Mussolini goose, and a Hirohito duck. The Hitler duck had the same brown hair and mustache like the real Hitler; the Mussolini goose had the ridiculous hat that Mussolini sported; and the Hirohito duck had glasses and a huge grin plastered across his face. Song-Mei narrowed her eyes angrily; she hated the way the American propaganda cartoons portrayed the Japanese. _Japanese people aren't always grinning like that,_ she thought. The cartoon ended with the Hitler, Mussolini, and Hirohito birds being shot and becoming decorative mantelpieces, and a message: "If you would like for this to happen, support our soldiers and BUY WAR BONDS!"

          Song-Mei rolled her eyes as she left the theater. _I don't know what's worse: American or German propaganda. It's not like Stalin or Churchill are saints, either, or Jiang Jieshi (Chiang Kai-shek). _

          "World powers," she grumbled to herself. _I guess I'd better enjoy my last day in my world, because I don't plan on coming back for a while, _Song-Mei thought. She had come to the realization that the whole war itself was simply overwhelming. Even though America could not accept her, she did maintain a small sense of patriotism, and she couldn't wish for anything more than for the Allies to be victorious. However, she was tired of being bombarded with the Germans' atrocities. It was true the Germans were doing bad things, but Song-Mei believed that not all the Germans were bad and that the blame should not be placed on the entire race itself, but the people in power, mainly Hitler and his cronies, especially Heinrich Himmler. She tired of rations; of hearing boys talk of joining up; of constantly looking to the sky for star-adorned planes; of air raids, war news, D-Day, and almost all connotations with present-day civilian life.

          She walked into a local restaurant to splurge on a greasy burger. The price of meat had soared since meat was now rationed as well. But it had been so long since she had tasted any meat other than pork, she felt it was worth the few extra cents. She squirted ketchup onto the greasy meat and slapped the soggy bun back down onto it. _It might just be me, but service seems to have gone downhill since the war, _she thought as she took a big bite. _None of this would have happened if we hadn't blamed Germany in the First World War._

          She finished her meal and left abruptly to go home and pack. She wanted to take with her at least a few modern provisions. She thought to stop and buy some bubble gum and chocolate when she saw some in the local grocery store; after all, candies had become a rare delicacy since they, too, went to the soldiers. Mulan probably would like chocolate and bubble gum, too, so she bought two packs of gum and two bars of chocolate.

          She started on her way home, but not before she was stopped by a classmate.

          "You haven't been to class lately," the red-haired girl said.

          "Um . . .yeah," Song-Mei replied, smelling alcohol on the girl's breath while searching her memory for the girl's name.

          "Want some?" the girl held out a dark brown glass bottle, which obviously contained beer.

          Song-Mei shook her head. She'd drank alcohol before and it had a most unpleasant taste and odor. She'd promised herself she'd never drink beer again.

          "Aww, come on," the girl taunted.

          "Ah, no, that's quite all right," Song-Mei replied, getting onto her bike and pedaling away as fast as she could.

          When she arrived home, she grabbed a large suitcase and began cramming in whatever she could. Her winter uniform, school uniform winter coat, school sweater uniform, school uniform hat, a blue skirt, a long-sleeve light blue blouse, a hairbrush, hair ribbons, underwear, socks, extra shoes, a block of cheese, some canned corned beef, a can opener, cans of soup, a bowl, a fork, a spoon, a knife, and whatever else she could think of. She then tiptoed to her father's room and carefully took the shotgun, ammunition, and handgun. 

          She then went to the bathroom and shook down her long hair. She took out a jar of her father's hair gel and carefully, with her hair brush, began brushing her hair up in a circular motion, from left to right, to her scalp, using the hair gel to keep it in place. When she was done she looked like she had close-cut hair. Next, she took bandage tape and began wrapping it around her breasts in an attempt to flatten them and appear masculine. She then changed into her brother Hans's boy's uniform. With that done, she took her things and got onto her bicycle and headed for Chinatown. As she rode, she found it very unusual not to feel her ponytails flapping in the wind behind her. She wasn't used to feeling the wind rush against her bare neck.

          "Goodbye, San Francisco," she said as she rode up to the Chinese Tea Garden. Of course, she now had a teeny-tiny problem: the garden was closed; its gates were sealed and locked.

          _Great. Just great. How in blazes am I supposed to get my bicycle over that gate? The gate stood about a foot above Song-Mei's head, and Song-Mei was only five feet eleven inches tall._

          _Well, Hans would just throw the bicycle over the gate. But I'm not as strong as Hans is. She stood there pondering about what to do._

          "Oh, what the heck," she muttered to herself as she gripped the bicycle's steel frame and hauled the bike over her head. Mustering up all her strength, she tossed the bicycle over the top of the gate, where it landed with a loud crash on the concrete. Song-Mei winced and hoped no one had heard.

          Next was her bulging suitcase. Gripping the suitcase handle, she tossed it over the gate, where it landed with a thud.

          Lastly was herself. She reached one ivory hand up to the very top and grabbed hold, feeling her toes lift off the ground. She hoisted herself up and scooted until she was seated on the very top of the gate. She then did a graceful flip down to the ground, landing on her feet.

          "I can't see a thing," she grumbled, fiddling in her pocket for her flashlight.


End file.
